Album Review: Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog

The third studio album This Old Dog from Canadian born musician, singer and songwriter, Mac
DeMarco, features a more polished version of DeMarco’s signature sound and style; and like
always, shows a variety of genres and inspirations throughout the LP. The album features 13
songs with the shortest track ‘Sister’ just passing the 1 minute mark, and the longest track
‘Moonlight on the River’ at just over 7 minutes.

The album starts off with his catchy, vibrant single ‘My Old Man’ released earlier this year at the
end of January. From this track we can see how DeMarco has moved towards a more mature
approach to his music/songwriting, due to the cleaner production and more focused, mature lyrics.

The album then moves on to the first single released ‘This Old Dog’, which is a much slower,
somber track but is also more mature than some of his previous work. In tracks like ‘For the First
Time’ and ‘On the Level’ there is still that synth heavy sound, like in some of his most favorited
songs like ‘Chamber of Reflection’.

In the track ‘A Wolf Who Wears Sheep’s Clothes’ we can see DeMarco’s more experimental side
once again, through the use of the harmonica as one of the lead instruments, giving the song a
country feel.

The final song of the album ‘Watching Him Fade Away’ is one of the slowest, and DeMarco’s most
exposed track, as we see him coming to terms with the absence of his dad and the father-son
relationship he never had (DeMarco’s dad was kicked out of his house by his mum when Mac was
five).

Overall the album is DeMarco’s most mature and sober project to date, and we see all of Mac’s
mixed emotions about his dad come together, in an almost sentimental and nostalgic album.